#* technically it's counterspell in game

[greyias]

Still poking my way very slowly through Act 1 of BG3 with my half-elf pally girl, Aravyn, and just had the best series of quests/encounters that hit me a little in the feels.

So, long long ago, when WotC was starting to play test 5e, I started to attend some D&D Encounter sessions at a local comic/game shop, where we'd use some random pre-rolled character sheets to play. And I got handed the following:

This randomized Paladin who, for some reason, was also a wandering minstrel. I got to play her for all of one session, and unfortunately never was able to attend any more sessions (for reasons). Yet this yodeling Paladin has lived rent-free in my head for years, but had never found a group to play with in the years following.

So when I realized that I might be able to bring a version of her to life in BG3, I leapt on the chance and gave her the Entertainer background, and despaired a little that I couldn't multiclass her into Bard in Explorer Mode (although there is a mod for that).

I found a lute on the beach, played it very badly in camp and got yelled at by Lae'zel for it. And then, I wandered a little bit outside of the Druid's camp, to find a Tiefling bard singing so badly a bunch of squirrels were wailing with despair.

Having failed so spectacularly in serenading the camp, it would have been smart for poor Aravyn to just talk her way through this encounter. But here she was, being offered a lute and a chance to inspire someone with music.

And she knocked it out of the park -- being gifted the lute of the bard's deceased lover mentor as thanks for helping her break out of writer's block. (I mean, I get it. I feel that pain Alfira)

Mood™

Right afterwards, because I refuse to take a long rest while still full up on spell slots, I kept the party exploring, and encountered the harpy ambush at the beach. And we died. A lot. Especially in a frontal assault. So finally as a last ditch effort before having to put off saving the tiny child being lured in as a harpy snack for a better leveled party, I just had Aravyn sneak up behind and yeet herself from the harpy nest straight at the beasty ladies on the rock where they were hiding.

As you do.

Anyway, Shadowheart joined her, because what else should a healer do but leap into the fray and harm's way? (there was no way this was going to work, so what did I have to lose but my pride, I told myself) And as both holy ladies started swinging away wildly while the warlock and wizard looked on from above, I found myself wishing I really had some levels in bard in order to use countersong* to nullify the crooning harpy below slowly luring a little tiefling child to his doom.

After exhausting all actions and bonus actions, and since I had Lihala's lute already equipped with nothing else to do in between rounds I was like "...fuck it, we rock", and started blasting a song.

My Paladin, apparently, while fighting a bunch of harpies.

And I don't know if it was just a quirk of the dice rolls, but it worked. On his next round, the tiefling child immediately was able to break free of the song, which was the first time that had happened in all five tries and started running the fuck away. And I was like "...wait what?" and so after kicking ass on the next round, played again. And he was able to resist again and kept running further away while the harpies were distracted tearing the party to pieces.

No one in the party got charmed while Aravyn was playing her heart out, and by guzzling a lot of healing potions, they were able to just manage to squeak out a win. Bloodied and burning through all of their spell slots, they were victorious.

Uh, so yeah. Apparently I unintentionally recreated the end of season 4 of Stranger Things (with less tragedy!), and saved a little kid with the power of rock and roll while using the lute of slain bard. And damn, if that's not a true D&D experience I don't know what is. So I think it's safe to say that Larian has been able to somewhat recapture some of that lightning in a bottle feeling of playing a tabletop RPG in this game.

(even if that was all luck of dice rolls and playing the lute did nothing, I'm headcanoning Ari was channeling Lihala's spirit, because that's a far better story)

[utilitycaster]

Top 5 5e subclasses

Hexblade (Warlock)

Circle of Stars (Druid)

Battlemaster (Fighter)

Grave Domain (Cleric)

Divination (Wizard)

all of these are extremely powerful (and, unsurprisingly for me, utility focused) but just a quick rundown across classes

There are barbarian subclasses I think are stronger and weaker but none that are either brilliant or terrible, though Zealot is really good; same is true for monk and paladin imo, and all of these have such good baseline abilities that few things stand out but nothing is truly bad either.

Rogue and ranger suffer from some really underpowered subclasses and core mechanics; there are good subclasses (xanathar's does right by rangers, and part of my issue with rogue is that it's so dependent on party comp - even an weak class like assassin rogue like Vax works in a party that has a massive melee tank, but it's not transferrable) but none that fully overcome the limitations imo.

Bard and artificer have the same thing going on as barbarian for the most part; college of whispers is kind of weak imo but everything else is pretty decent, and core mechanics are strong enough though it's a bit more of an on-ramp than there is for the martials I mentioned.

The best sorcerer subclass is easily divine soul which is still not as good as core cleric or wizard.

Moving on: hexblade is an incredible marriage of physical combat and spellcasting in a very martially-focused class, and later provides some solid tanking; debatably, it does bladesinger better than bladesinger.

Circle of Stars and Wildfire are both just stupidly good; the ability to spellcast in "technically wildshape" is frankly a little OP but I'm going with stars for the vibe and for the bonus action abilities.

Core fighter is incredibly strong already; battlemaster lets you do more with what you have and assess threats more accurately. It's not my favorite subclass (as a magic enjoyer, rune knight and eldritch knight are more my personal speed) but it's just an incredibly well designed class.

Grave Domain gives you bonus action spare the dying at a distance and crit canceling. everything else is icing on the cake; cleric is an exceptionally strong core class as well. There's a reason why prematurely balding white men with glasses and beards on youtube cry every time players have basic things that cancel out abilities cleanly (counterspell, flying, silvery barbs) and it's because it's good.

Wizard rounds out the "core class is so ridiculously strong anyway" group but Divination portents are also one of the most ridiculous cheat codes of the game. I considered transmutation because of the versatility of the transmuter's stone, but my heart is personally with divination.

[greyplainsttrpg]

5e Villain Arc 6

There is a sentiment that I hear/read a lot when engaging with the darkness (read as D&D discourse) (and by D&D, I specifically mean Wizard's of the Coast's Dungeons and Dragons). "High level caster SHOULD be more powerful than martials, however they should be reasonably close together for gameplay."

Here is the thing: I don't agree. In fact, I think this sentiment is fundamentally wrong. In order for you, the reader, to firmly empathize with this part of the argument, it was necessary to build to it via the other frameworks established in the previous villain arc posts. The main thesis of this argument is that "Magic is anti-creative gameplay." However, I will interrogate this thesis with alternative argument that is more strictly on topic...

This Post is about the Caster/Martial Divide in 5e

Part 1: Why martials suck conceptually.

Imagine this scenario. You are playing a monk. In the game, there is a dragon. If the DM plays this dragon with the intelligence that a several-century old being would have, what are you supposed to do to pilot this monk to defeat the dragon?

This is a genuine problem that is worth trying to solve. Even if this is a Level 500 monk, they still only have so many tools on their character sheet that has any counterplay to a well-played dragon. Sure, a Level 500 monk could destroy a dragon if they could get their little kungfu-fighting hands on it, but good luck.

Instead, consider a level 10 wizard. What can they do to fight a dragon? Quite a lot, actually. Recently, the larger TTRPG discourse calls these options "paper buttons." The player can push the paper button on the character sheet, cast a spell, and there we go--we are immediately making progress. What does the monk do? I don't know. It depends on the context. What kind of dragon is it? Where is its nest? Is the objective to kill it or is the dragon just an obstacle? These are things that a character without pregenerated, potent options has to consider when dealing with complex problems.

Despite spellcasters having, like, pre-wrapped solutions to problems, spellcasters are generally considered to be "more difficult" than martials. I think this comes from the idea that "having more options" is equivalent to "more difficult to do." Because there is more text, surely this means it must be harder to play. This is fundamentally untrue. I suppose that there are "more" decisions to make as a spellcaster-player in various parts of a session. In a vacuum where neither the player nor the character can predict the upcoming situation (or if they got spells randomly) then I would be more willing to compromise with this argument. It would be tricky to know when you should or should not cast your probably shit spells in a situation that you cannot predict.

However, in practice, how smart do you REALLY need to be to prepare fireball? Oh, there is a magical buff being applied to the boss? Gee, I WONDER if I should cast dispel magic or counterspell? Decisions decisions. If all the spells in the game were like create water and rope trick, then spellcasters would be on equal-ish footing with martials in complexity of actual play.

Let's return to the monk and the dragon. I ran a session in my my own system, Simplains, where the objective was to "get a dragon egg." Spellcasting in Simplains is limited, so everyone was playing essentially as martials with some special features (that are technically spells). How are they supposed to get a dragon egg? Their solution was to:

Go to a dragon scholar and learn more about dragon eggs.

Acquire a letter of introduction from this scholar for a young (not yet egg-laying) dragon.

Go to the young dragon an find out if there are any dragons willing to sell their eggs.

Determine what the mature dragon is willing to trade for an egg.

Turns out that a mature dragon doesn't really need any more wealth, however she does need a dragon partner to lay fertile eggs, which she does not have.

Create a dating profile for the dragon and seek viable, compatible partners.

I have to point out that I did not plan this. This was not the "intended" story path. There was no story path for this quest (I am not against playing or running more linear games as a rule). The Players largely directed this gameplay themselves.

This is objectively way funnier than:

locate object or scry (dragon egg)

teleport

invisibility

done

This is, perchance, a "style" difference between me and modern DM/GMs. As you can probably tell, I am a bit of a grognard in that, in my opinion, the point of playing TTRPGs is primarily to solve fantastical problems with unusual tools. The text of the rules are a necessary medium to facilitate and moderate gameplay.

When I read D&D Reddit or other social media, I see that somewhat similar stories will appear as "CAN YOU BELIEVE MY PLAYERS DID THIS LOL XD SO RANDUM." This is regarded as players "going off the plot." GMs might stop this sort of behavior because resolving it would take too long compared to the concise adventure that they wrote where they do a heist and steal a dragon egg. Why do all this work? "The tools to your success are right there on your character sheet!" If 5e DMs banned (or heavily restricted) spellcasting, I guarantee that these kinds of events will happen more often in their games. Magic is actually depriving the DM and their players of fun via access to easy, carbon-monoxide poisoning induced solutions. It's okay little buddy, you don't have to think. Go ahead and push that paper button and feel the trickling dopamine from the satisfaction of killing another 15 goblins with another fireball on another day of another session of playing Hasbro's: Wizards of the Coast's: Dungeons and Dragons (2014).

Part 2: Why martials suck practically

The caster/martial divide has existed for a long time in the history of Dungeons and Dragons. The early idea for the divide is that casters start off very weak in terms of health, combat prowess, and even poor spellcasting access and make up for it if they survive to later levels. There are a number assumptions baked into this that I actually do not fundamentally disagree with.

The caster has to live long enough to be good.

The life of the character is the responsibility of the player and the whole party.

In this thinking, the spellcaster surviving is not assumed (because no-one's survival is assumed). Spellcasters are weaker but they have the POTENTIAL to be good (but still vulnerable). Keeping the character alive is a priority for the party. Because, while every problem can be solved conventionally in older games, having a wizard around really helps in specific situations. It is really important to stress how poor spellcaster survivability was. In the first version where Classes have different HP, Spellcasters had a grand total of 1d3 HP per hit die. While the damage is also somewhat lower in these older editions, it was not that much lower. 1d3 is terrible. They can't wear armor, they can't use real weapons, they have horrific THAC0, and their spells aren't even that good. Fighting Men, on the other hand, are excellent. 1d10 Hit Die, weapons that actually do damage, armor, magic weapons and armor, THAC0 that works. This is amazing in OD&D. The goal of the game in OD&D (more often than not) is to use the Spellcaster and the Cleric to put the Fighting Man into position to beat the dungeon boss. The Fighting Man breaks down the locked door, kills all the monsters inside, picks up the treasure of gold, and then drags it back out of the dungeon so the Cleric can heal them. The Magic User deals with the booby traps and allows the Fighting Man to circumvent as many fights as possible (via spells like Sleep or Pass-wall).

The gampley loop of OD&D (and similar games) is therefore:

Magic User casts spells to avoid conflict.

Magic User Runs out of Spells.

Fighting Man has to get everyone out of a fight.

Cleric heals Fighting Man.

Rest and try again next in-game day.

It's obviously not always exactly like this, but that is the intended game-loop (more or less). In this version of the game, the Fighting Man played as critical a role to party success as the Magic User (and the Cleric). However, what if, and hear me out, we gave the magic user more health; added several universal mechanics to make sure everyone can get more health; made the magic powerful, plentiful, and accessible to most classes; and then made it so the Fighting Man equivalent also did not get better THAC0 (equivalent)? Wouldn't that be EPIC!

This is related, of course, to Villain Arc 3 (the Beastmaster Ranger one). D&D is limited in its thinking that spellcasters can have access to supernatural abilities and that martials should be grounded to generally what is physically possible. As per that post, and of Villain Arc 4 where I discuss the unbounded/utility elements of Strength in past editions of D&D, this is simply ridiculous. Furthermore, the fact that Cantrips, which Casters can do an infinite number of times ALSO scale with the Caster's level whilst also being a full Caster is ridiculous. Let's talk about Cantrips.

I know the counterarguments to the Cantrip issue. 1) They do not have flat modifiers to damage; 2) they often require saves for 1/2 damage; 3) they are not strictly as good as martial extra attack. My counter-counterarguments are 1) So? 2) So? 3) So? These points do not fundamentally resolve the issue that Cantrips present in the game--undermining resource management of Spells. Also, I'd like to point out that the only Martial that receives more than a single Extra Attack (no strings attached) is the Fighter. This means that Cantrips might outperform the total number of attacks made by the Barbarian, Ranger (not technically a full martial but LMAO) or the Rogue (without Sneak Attack). To get equal or more damage at higher levels, the Paladin HAS to use Divine Smite (a spell slot) to keep up with Full Casters (not using a Spell Slot).

If Cantrips existed to 1) smooth out the difficulty curve of playing a low-level Full Caster (who should have AT MOST 1d6 HP) and 2) provide consistent utility, then I would not actually have an issue with that. If Fire Bolt did a constant 1d10 damage, that would be fine for me. I'm not such a grognard that I believe Full Casters should suffer at low levels in every system they are present. I am, however, against undermining the gameplay purpose of a Full Caster. Martials do not have to worry about resource depletion while Casters do (as far as spells go). That should be the advantage to a Martial: It always JUST WORKS. Martials should be reliable, consistent, non-gambling characters, and Full Casters should be high-risk high-reward utility glass cannons. If you take out the risk of being a Caster, you only get reward. Compare this to the boon/bane (or pros/cons) divide of the Martial. The Boon/Pro is that everything they do just works (or should; bounded accuracy/d20 moment). The Bane/Con is that they are limited in what they can accomplish. Martials have few ways to escape their Banes (and are actually more limited than they used to be in many ways), and their Boons are not even as valuable/potent; both in isolation (due to a variety of factors, but bounded accuracy in particular) and in comparison to the Full Casters.

Usually when talking about Martials, the discussion revolves primarily around the Barbarian, Fighter, and Monk. However, we cannot forget what they did to my beautiful baby boy, the Rogue/Thief. I love this Class. It is my favorite Class in all D&D games. I love the skill-monkey playstyle, and the fact that the skill-monkey got shifted to the Bard in 5e devastates me--mostly because the Bard, themselves, is now a Full-Caster. For the Caster/Martial divide, I actually want to bring up the AD&D Thief Class. Behold:

These Thieving Skills are present in AD&D and 2nd Edition, but this version comes from 2nd Edition (because I am more familiar with it). If you read Villain Arc 4, then you are familiar with Bend Bars/Lift Gates. It is also a percentile roll, and the result is that the Character can perform any of a wide range of super heroic strength feat. The Thieving Skills share more in common with BB/LG than they do with the modern "Stealth" and "Perception" skills of 3rd edition onward. While those Skills are based on these, the WotC equivalents to Thieving Skills are horribly nerfed. This is for several reasons:

Thieving Skills are easier to succeed at most levels: So long as the Character is investing points into the Thieving Skills they plan to use, the Thief is likely to succeed at them pretty easily starting at like Level 3 or so. They flesh out their skills after around Level 5 or so to be more balanced and useful. This is to say that the Thief Skills are not bounded into the same funnel that every action in 5e is.

Like BB/LG is SUPERHUMAN, Thief Skills are similarly SUPERHUMAN: Let me be clear--there is a big difference between "Move Silently" in WotC D&D and TSR D&D. In WotC, it just means that the Character succeeds without making easily detectable noise, however creatures can counter it with Perception. Not so in AD&D. When they say Silently, they mean as per the spell, Silence. Better, even, because it cannot be detected via magical means. The Thief is BETTER THAN MAGIC. They are impossible to detect. This is essentially repeated from Villain Arc 4, but it is important to repeat it here in this context. This applies to all the Thieving Skills in ways that you may not expect. Some examples:

3. They are locked to Non-Casters: While other Classes do get Thief Skills, no other Class gets all of them or any of them with the same potency. Specifically, Wizards and Priests (the overarching categories for Full Casters) have no access to Thief Skills. This is because the drawback of playing a Full Caster is a lack of access to renewable options in exchange for resource-based flexibility. You do not NEED a Thief in the party, but having a Thief means that the Wizard/Cleric do not need to step in to fill the important role that the Thief serves (meaning they cannot invest into the things that make them better). Since WotC changed Skills around, this has not been true, and thus the Thief is not nearly as useful going forward.

This is not an immediately obvious without deep knowledge of the game, but the asymmetric leveling system of AD&D (2nd in particular) also means that Thieves level up much faster than any other Class. This means that they get their utility options online before any other Character gets theirs. This has shadow-buff ramifications for the Thief in other ways as well, but those are not strictly relevant here.

Moving on from the Thief back to the warriors, one of the things that is interesting in older games is how one can use their attack more flexibly.

Yes, you can execute battle-field tactics with your attack. These options are laid out in more detail in Combat and Tactics, but the principle of trading an attack for some sort of utility has always been present. This is a huge (but sneaky) buff to Fighters in particular. Fighters get weapon Specialization which grants them access to more attacks per round than any other character in the game. In addition to the obvious and consistent improvement having more attacks generates, this also means that Fighters in particular can shuffle around a battlefield and resolve niche utility nonsense with their unbounded THAC0. One of the funniest things Characters can do with their Attack is to grab objects out of an opponent's hand. Have an enemy with a dangerous staff that turns people to stone? Well, it's the fighter's turn, and he/she/they move(s) 120 YARDS and Grabs the staff from the stupid, weak wizard's pitiful arms. THEN, with your next attack, you can quarterback the quarterstaff (hehe) to your own Wizard, and now THEY'RE DRIVING THE BUS. You can also do all these actions with you off hand with a penalty because every Character can choose to attack with their off hand as well. Epic gameplay.

In these ways, martials can circumvent their lack of flexibility from not having Spells by being pretty useful/reliable in other situations/contexts. With the limited scope of what an "Attack" is combined with Bounded Accuracy and generally not that many attacks, you end up with some pretty lame martials who cannot get much done.

Part 3: Conclusion

Martials have been progressively stripped of all the things that make them useful, powerful, unique, flexible, and interesting. At the same time, casters get more HP, more instantly rewarding spells, and benefit from saving throws being wacky in this game.

Wait a minute. I haven't talked about saving throws. OH NO.

Part 4: WAIT A MINUTE SAVING THROWS

Remember the part earlier where Saving Throws were mentioned as if that fucking mattered for nerfing Cantrips or Spells? Surprise, I'm circling back to that now because this post will never end. I've been working on this for weeks. Yeah, Saving Throws in this game SUCK. Each Character only gets proficiency in 2 of 6 saves? With bounded accuracy? En esta enconomía? No fucking thank you. Okay, say for the sake of argument that you are not a fucking idiot and you know that there are 3 real saves in this game (Dex, Con, Wis), 1 pseudo-real save (int) and two absolutely fake saves (Cha). Most monsters you fight have a similar spread to characters in that they only have proficiency in one to three saves (not counting legendary resistance). Okay, now just look at the monster and GUESS which saves it probably doesn't have. Players can prepare Cantrips that target one of each major Save type and just spam them without push-back. In practice, I know that it is more difficult than just that, but among a whole party it isn't. With a full party, there is always one Character AT LEAST who can sit back and spam the most braindead fucking option imaginable. For spells that are AC based, bounded accuracy makes AC so low on average that the Player doesn't have to think either. And spells do non-physical damage. Wait a minute...

Part 5: Elemental Damage

CANTRIPS USUALLY DON'T DEAL PHYSICAL DAMAGE which many monsters resist. Brought the wrong weapon? I guess you're not really damaging the skeletons today. The Caster? Just spam a different cantrip. Don't worry about spending spell slots little buddy. Everything is going to be alright. The world is your oyster, and martials can dance and sing your praise as you bedazzle them with all the problems you can easily solve that they can't. "Oh, but you can just bring all the weapons you might need." Sure, but no. Due to the limits of Magic Item Attunement, it is not reasonable to expect every martial to bring every kind of weapon necessary to fight every kind of monster when the wizard just really does not have to deal with it at all. Also, does the monk have slashing hands? Yes, I know they can use Slashing weapons, but has anyone ever seen a monk use a weapon before? That is the most vestigial class element that I have ever seen.

Part 6: Hey, that's the same as this Villain Arc!

Thanks for sticking with me for this long post. This has been the most "old man yells at clouds" one yet, but I actually got to some analysis at the end there. I have always liked martial characters, and the obvious Caster/Martial divide was one of the things that caused me to have such a bad time playing and running 5e before writing my own system.

I am not sure how many more true villain arcs I have left in me. I do not want to discuss the play-culture too much in these arcs specifically because my focus is solely on the game mechanics. I might start my "5e Revengeance Arc" soon, which is the parallel to this arc that goes through the logic of how and why Greyplains is a specific response to all the things that frustrate me in 5e.

Anyway

#transright

#freepalestine

#buymybook

Previous Villain Arc

Next Villain Arc Post:

[flightyquinn]

Letting Players Feel Smart in Combat

or, "Running Encounters with an Information Economy"

PREAMBLE: Something that frustrated me for a long time as a player in TTRPGs was how hard it could be to guess enemy tactics. There are a lot of things that you can do with good tactics, but a lot of the time you lack the information to use those tactics. For example, setting up a prepared action to counterspell just wastes your turn if nobody tries to cast anything. This can be especially frustrating when you're up first in the initiative, and don't have much more than just a description of who/what you're fighting to go off of.

AN ANECDOTE: One day I decided to try an experiment. Each round of combat was supposed to be happening in the same six seconds of elapsed time, right? So, the next time I went first, I asked my GM if I could see what the enemies were doing - everything was happening at the same time, so I should be able to read their body language, the directions they were starting to move, and where they were looking to get an idea of how they were going to act, right?

As I honestly had been expecting, my GM said no. It wasn't their turn yet, so they weren't doing anything yet. I resolved that I did not want to run my own games that way, so I came up with some ways that when I ran a game, I could help my players to not be going into battle completely blind.

THE POINT: Tipping players off to enemy tactics is just good GMing. When they get a "read" on an enemy, they'll feel like an absolute genius. When the party plans for what the enemy will do and uses tactics to put the odds in their favor, they will lose their minds over how cool they feel. Here's a couple things I do to make that happen.

The first is giving enemies tells for what they're planning, which sounds simple, but actually requires a change to how encounters are typically run. Basically, you should know what an enemy will do before their turn, and typically at the end of the last one. Then you narrate them doing something to hint at that as part of their action. For example, a dragon might inhale deeply before using its breath weapon, or a manticore might slowly go from lashing its tail from side to side to holding it stiff as it prepares to launch a volley of spikes.

You don't have to stay committed to a course of action once you've given a tell, but if the players do something that would cause an enemy to reconsider its tactics (or determine them, if you hadn't decided anything for it yet), that's another time to give a tell. For instance, you might have already described a dire wolf lowering on its haunches as it starts stalking toward the ranger, ready to pounce, when the halfling rogue stops taking cover behind the fighter. In that case, you might describe the dire wolf shifting its stance, licking its lips as it turns its attention to this weaker-looking prey.

There's no need to give a tell for every action, of course. That would get taxing for you, and tedious for the party. Generously sprinkling in clues as to key things enemies want to do can keep players engaged, and help them break through the indecision about what to do with their own turns, though.

That brings me to my other trick. If you read the anecdote section above, this is something I came up with as a direct result of that. I decided to add a special action type that is just for the players, the "Observe Action". Every player gets one Observe Action on each of their turns that they can use in a number of ways to get more information about the conditions on the battlefield, or to gain an advantage.

The first use is just applying their skills in the normal way. If they could use a skill to recall information about a particular creature, they now do this as an Observe Action. This one is technically an explicit nerf in Pathfinder, since recalling is stated to be no action, but I find that most groups only check on one monster at a time anyway, and on the occasions when they don't, starting combat with check spam just slows the action down, so I include it. It usually doesn't hurt anything, and having it on the list can actually remind players that doing this is a thing they can do in the first place.

The second is also more or less a bookkeeping task, and that's using informational magic, like the Detect spells. It doesn't change the cast time, but once the spell is up, any further focus to gain more information uses their Observe Action. This is mostly just to remind players they can have these going while they fight, but I do also make any part of using the spell once cast that would normally be a Standard Action into an Observe instead, as a small bonus.

The third use, and the first truly new option, is to "read" a group. This is similar to recalling information, but allows for some different questions to be asked. Use these as a baseline.

Who has the highest/lowest HP?

Who can deal the most damage with physical attacks.

Who has the highest bonus to hit?

General "lean" of the group's alignment. (Most common alignment component on a single axis.)

How challenging does this fight look? (General CR range of the encounter, described as Easy, Average, Challenging, etc...)

Individual with the highest/lowest value in a particular ability score.

Highest/lowest value in a particular saving throw.

Basically, this option is there to help players decide who to focus their attention on. Let them use it for whatever will help them get a better idea of who or what they're facing. Let them ask their main question up-front before rolling to establish the check (whatever skill and DC seems appropriate), but let them ask additional questions after if they get a high roll.

It goes hand in hand with the last option, which is gauging intent. This one should probably be done with Insight/Sense Motive, and it just comes down to that original question. What's going to happen next?

The first way this can work is that the player focuses on a specific enemy, and gets a sense of what that enemy specifically intends to do. In other words, the player tells you who they want to get a "tell" for, and if they succeed, you give it to them.

Alternatively, the player might ask if anyone in the enemy group is about to take a specific action. For example, "Is the cleric about to get targeted." or "Does anyone look like they're going to call for backup?" So basically, instead of focusing on the behavior of one individual, the player is staying alert for a particular situation. Don't let the players get too broad with this one, of course, but it's okay to be a little generous with what they can ask about.

Even more than when I advised it above, if someone successfully gauges the intent of their enemy, and that intent changes, let them know. You should treat a success as them continuing to be alert to what they were observing for until their next turn.

I also toyed with the idea of letting players use their Observation to look for openings to improve their chance of hitting, or for a weak spot to do more damage. I like the idea of this, but felt like it stepped on the toes of other, existing options too much, and would be too tempting to players over the other uses. So I decided to keep Observation Actions as purely a source of information, and not directly pumping numbers. Still, if it sounds like it would work for you, try it out.

For everyone who read this incredibly long post of mine, I hope it helps you out. I haven't done a post like this in a long time, and I really appreciate you taking the time to read it. If these rules improve anyone else's games, hearing that would really make my day.

[theedeadpixel]

Since no one else brought it up, likely because it changed nothing about the encounter, I feel like bringing it up. This may just be the way I was taught to play DnD by my early DMs, but in counterspell chains, you're supposed to announce you're casting it before who your counterspelling rolls (if they have to roll at all.) This was a rule likely done to prevent waiting to see if it succeeded.

For example, let's say someone counterspelled a Teleport spell at lets say level 4. If someone wanted to counterspell it at 3rd level, they'd have to do so before that person rolls to see if they succeed. They then have to roll to see if they succeed, if they don't, the original counterspell rolls, and if they don't, the teleport goes through.

In the case of the Ludinus v. Laudna counterspell, Laudna cast it at 3rd level, stated by Marisha when asked by Matt, which means she'd have to roll against Ludinus' 9th level (what I believe to be) Weird spell. However, instead of waiting for Laudna's roll, if Ludinus wanted to counterspell it, he should do it before Laudna rolled, and since he did it at the same level as Laudna, Laudna would've been automatically countered, no roll involved.

So technically, Mr. Mercer (I don't know why tf I called him that but oh well) made two mistakes within less than a minute of each other. Only one if the first part I mentioned isn't an official rule and just how I was taught to play the game. But still, the first rule being broken only to be immediately followed by the misuse of the second rule to get the same outcome is rather fitting.

Edit: I want to make it clear this isn't bashing Matt or any of the cast, I was merely stating an observation I made during my watch of the episode

[eurydicees]

Correct me if I’m wrong but Iwaizuimi’s weakness in fhq is Oikawa right??? Which. Yeah. That does things to a person

And another question: what are your thoughts on Kenma as a magician (or is he a wizard? The details are fuzzy I’m sorry 😅)

jkhkahdgkjs so real. things that DOES to a person.

i'm trying to find a source for that but i can't seem to find anything, which is strange because i could've SWORN i read that tidbit somewhere a while back when i was writing my take on the au last yr.

but what i DO know is that a number of iwaizumi's stats and traits--way more than really is necessary--are, like, relative to oikawa and their relationship. they are so deeply connected in their lives and futures in this au (and canon imo) that iwaizumi's player stats often have to do with him. like. god. okokokokok. tell me ur souls are intertwined and he shaped you into who you are without telling me--

anyways. iwaizumi's player profiles are HERE and HERE, where you will find information such as "attack: not that fond of oikawa" and speed: "quick to retort to oikawa" and "specialty: oikawa's former friend" . i did find one other profile but i can't find a translation for it; maybe that's where the weakness thing is from? not sure. i wish i could find that though bc it makes me need to take a fucking lap.

just. something like you're so loyal to someone that everything that you fight for and with is tied to him but you have to betray his trust and his friendship because no matter how much you love him, he's fallen to the dark side and you can't live with that, with the him that has become corrupted, but to save him is to destroy him and while you join the heroes on their quest to do it you also know that every way you fight and every time you fight, you're carrying him with you because he was your friend.

so yeah do you ever feel crazy about a piece of humorous media drawn for a 3ds game made based on a joke movie poster au of the volleyball manga.

AND KENMA !!!! so technical terms he's a white mage, but in my head he's "wizard on the good side." similar to how kuroo is a black mage and i've just decided he's one of the demons with oikawa. i think also some of it might be that there are different translations floating around between mage and wizard! tbh translation variations is half the reason this whole post is a little iffy. there's no officially translated version of the "canon" (as much as things can be canon when they're inherently not canon) as far as i know.

but i love this for kenma! i think it fits super well for him. i don't remember what movie FHQ is supposed be a spin on, but in my head it's all the generic high fantasy DND style fiction. so looking at it like that, i really see kenma is a kind of advising/strategic role, if that makes sense?

he's not on the front line fighting with his hands, he's at the back of the group casting counterspell, yk? he's the mastermind, the one who knows things the others don't know or don't notice, the one who uses it all to his advantage without letting everyone in on the plan in its completion. the war/battle/fight is a chess game and he's the one predicting the next moves. kinda gandalf-esque? idk i fell asleep during lord of the rings.

but i think it makes a lot of sense to have kenma as a highly intelligent archetype, but also one with, like, low hp. it parallels canon really well imo! brain of nekoma who doesn't like getting tired. also i like the idea of kenma with a magic staff. just in general i think that's neat. he deserves that.

[gynandromorph]

i respec'd uh-oh to be a bardadin -- pal 2/swords bard All Other Levels. she is severely lacking mobility in a way i feel deeply when my other melee character primarily throws for damage and my casters are obviously ranged. i don't mind that she has to get in enemies' faces; she just has no fucking way to do it. no misty step spell, no nothing. she can waste a whole turn using an arrow of transposition, but this brings up another problem with her build: she doesn't really use her bonus actions for anything except smites and jumps, and she has to be in-range to smite.

vengeance, her oath, gets misty step, but at level 7, which would deprive me of the magical secrets bards only get at level 10. the other reason i wanted to dip all the way into bard is because she ends up with more spell slots in general for smites. i tried a wizard and sorcerer multiclass, and iirc bard got me more slots because the sword bar gives me an extra attack without forcing me into 5 levels of paladin. the flourishes are nice; you can use a slashing flourish to hit 2 enemies at once, and the game allows you to apply divine smite to both of them.

technically, i could take misty step with magical secrets. if the scrolls weren't such a pain in the ass to find, it wouldn't be a huge deal. i usually jump for counterspell and haste, but i find myself not really casting haste much due to a stock of speed potions. counterspell + misty step is pretty underwhelming for magical secrets, especially because magical secrets is the ONLY way to unlock banishing smite -- a traditionally level 17 paladin spell. maybe i'll just suck it up and start remembering to chug glorious vaulting and flight potions and run banishing smite + counterspell lmao. i also handed her a bow that allows you to cast haste once every long rest, so she technically HAS access to haste already, on top of my twin hasting sorcerer and shadowheart.

i also tried warlock (i ended up opening my finished #feminism paladin file and respec'd her repeatedly to see what i had to work with, but there's no way to practice battle to test out builds) but i was really underwhelmed. even IF the extra attack from the pact weapon stacks with the extra attack from paladin, i don't even have enough spell slots to smite every hit for A SINGLE ROUND. i am firmly of the belief that the ENTIRE POINT of paladin is to do massive damage with smites. if i wanted to hit without smites, i would just play a fighter. on top of that, it has you then use your charisma modifier instead of your strength modifier with the pact weapon, which is like. can you show me the potions that set your charisma to 27 until long rest? hm?????? why would i want to use charisma for my melee damage when there are very abundant, massive buffs to strength even from act 1. and yeah i have to drink an elixir every morning but i have to rebind my pact weapon every morning anyway.

lae'zel, meanwhile, i spec'd into a throw build between frenzy barb, for the enraged throws and damage resistance, and rogue, for the extra bonus action. she would benefit from levels in fighter. it works great, i have no complaints. i miss battle master maneuvers, but i could give a couple of those to uh-oh through a feat.

jesster still a sorcerer primarily with a 2-level dip into warlock for the cantrip -- i really wasn't expecting much but it honestly fucks severely now that i have the potent robes and i think some other piece of equipment that adds charisma modifier to cantrips as well. they genuinely usually do more damage with eldritch blast than magic missile, the build they were designed for, but EB isn't out of place with the buffs for MM, and the 100% hit chance of MM is always welcome. it's a lot easier to roll with the punches even if i'm low on slots with a cantrip that can do SOME damage and it makes using haste a lot more viable. i ended up rarely if ever using darkness, so i removed it and swapped devil's sight for repelling blast. better to use a lv 2 slot on invisibility than darkness maybe.

shadowheart is the same. i'm thinking of dipping more into wizard for counterspell, which you can't find as a scroll. i would be sacrificing natural chain lightning, but it's easy enough to just. acquire a billion chain lightning scrolls -- better than spell slot chain lightning even, because you can do it multiple times. because the issue with honor mode is "whether you die or not" and not "how many enemies you can kill," i feel like counterspell is just. more important. it's Really Important to be able to instantly shut down an attack that might have shredded your entire party's HP down to 30% imo. that and shield which i've shoved on all of my party members except lae'zel.

[djgamek1ng]

MTG x Final Fantasy Card Discussion (Pt. 3.2 - Y'shtola Rhul)

Technically we got 2 cards revealed today, but the other one is a reprint of an already existing MTG card, so I'm gonna do that one... later, since that will most likely purely be an art discussion. I think. I'm still split on how I will do reprints, but we do have one completely new card: Y'shtola Rhul from the main set. Also, weirdly, we just have the borderless full art version of her, so I'm just gonna be reviewing that art at the moment and edit this post later if we get the normal art of her.

Edit 11/05/2025: We have her regular art, huzzah!

Anyway, let's begin

Very quickly going over color flavor, since I actually already talked about it with Y'shtola, Night's Blessed: Blue is a smash hit. She's a magic scientist basically, literally on the cusp of figuring interdimensional travel out.

Anyway, quickly moving on: 6 mana for a 3/5. Not gonna sugar coat it: that's definitely behind rate. It's not the worst thing to be behind rate when your combat stats are nothing to sneeze at, which 3/5 certainly isn't, but at 6 mana, she is pricey. So try to have her be cheated in some way, either via cost reduction or something.

Aside from that, her ability is very simple: at the end of your end step, target a creature you control, then it returns to the battlefield under its owner control. Then if it was the first end step of the turn, you get an additional end step, triggering this ability again, just not with an extra end step.

So she is most definitely "flicker, the card", flickering 2 creatures per turn (or one creature twice per turn). Also an interesting thing that this is, I believe, the first card that gives you an extra end step, so any end step triggers would trigger twice. This makes her good for both flicker decks and end step matters decks. Aside from that, I don't have too much to say. She is very pricey at 6 mana, so running her as your commander in Commander is risky if you don't have ways to make her cheaper and don't run much in the way of protection, which admittedly isn't Blue's strongest point aside from counterspells. In the 99 she would serve better, still wanting to be cost reduced, but at least not being too threatening to immediately be wiped off the board. She does enable flicker shenanigans, so she is still a pretty high target, but it isn't as bad.

For 60 card formats... I just reckon she's too slow. She does have immediate value the turn she hits the field, but unless flicker decks suddenly aside from Ketramose, which even that isn't top line meta, she is fighting an uphill battle.

Now for the art. Credit to Immanuela Crovius. Link to their Twitter. Y'shtola in a forest full of crystals casting a spell. I believe this is the Black Shroud, but I do not recognize where exactly it is. Also, this is the one art where the not extended version is better, as in the extended version we see a spawn of satan in the background. Anyway, this is very nice art. Bright and vibrant while also feeling like Final Fantasy! I really love this one, this is great!

As for the alternative art:

Credit to Yusuke Mogi. I don't have a link, since he's currently official employed by Square Enix as the official Art Team Lead. That makes criticizing this art a bit hard, since... what am I supposed to say, that the Art Team Lead that makes the official art for the game got a detail wrong? He didn't btw, but still! I suppose if anything, her face looks a bit weird, even compared to how he usually draws her. Might be because it is more of an involved piece, with a background and spell effects. Still, regardless of anything, the art looks really good and you definitely can feel that this comes from an official FF14 artist.

And that's it, quick and easy. The card is good, but definitely feels like it can almost solely breath in commander. The art is very nice. Anyway, aside from a random card drop as I'm sleeping, that should be it for today. From tomorrow onwards, we are officially in spoiler season! Schedule for that here btw. I will try to have a post out every day, going over the cards, but some days will be tougher... especially the 12th if that means that all 4 commander decks will have their deck lists revealed... With all that said, thanks for reading and have a nice day o/

[wizardlybullshit]

Fun fact, in many games counterspell is a reaction which means technically you can counter their counter. Its even funnier in 5th edition d&d because reaction is a specific type of action and you get only one per turn, which means you can counter their counter but they can't counter you back. Endless hilarity.

i love counterspell. "i cast fireball!" no you dont

[cagemasterfantasy]

School of Abjuration Ranking (5e)

Guide

1=useless

2=often useful

3=sometimes useful

4=perfect

Arcane Ward 3 a great source of what essentially amounts to temporary hit points but since they aren’t technically temporary hit points the 2 effects stack. Arcane Ward itself begins at full HP the first time you cast an Abjuration spell each day even if all you do is spend 11 minutes to Ritual cast Alarm on nothing important. It then lasts until you finish your next Long Rest. Since the ward can take damage in your place you may even be able to avoid saves to maintain Concentration when you take damage. This additional overshield is a resource and resources are meant to be spent but don’t be reckless and overextend. Be sure to take all the normal defensive precautions and the ward will help mitigate when the dice just don’t go in your favor. If you’re looking for an easy way to charge the ward consider the Eldritch Initiate feat to get Armor of Shadows. Armor of Shadows allows you to cast Mage Armor on yourself at will allowing you to fully charge the ward whenever you have a few minutes to repeatedly cast Mage Armor in order to charge it

Projected Ward 4 your party’s Defender likely takes a lot more damage than you so soaking some of it with your ward can really cut down on how many resources your party must devote to healing. Just be aware that you’ll be unable to cast Shield Absorb Elements and Counterspell in response to future triggering events should you block some damage to an ally

Improved Abjuration 3 situational by design but very powerful in games which feature enemy spellcasters. Counterspell is an off-switch for those enemy spellcasters. Adding your proficiency bonus dramatically improves its effectiveness making you able to easily prevent enemy spellcasters from doing anything at all without the need to burn your highest-level spell slots. If you can also cast Enhance Ability (Intelligence) on yourself before walking into a fight with enemy spellcasters you can counter spells with very little risk of failure

Spell Resistance 3 Resistance to spells is great for resisting dangerous save or suck spells and resistance to spell damage makes you greatly resistant to direct damage spells which typically don’t require saves. Both halves of the feature apply at the same time so against spells which allow you to save for reduced damage this is extremely effective because on a successful save you’ll often take just a quarter of the game. However you’re expected to counter spells rather than try to resist them so this is mostly a redundant defense for when you’re outnumbered or surprised

Final Ranking 3 School of Abjuration’s signature mechanic is Arcane Ward which provides a pool of not-quite-hit-points that you can use to mitigate damage to yourself and eventually to your allies. Improved Abjuration makes School of Abjuration the uncontested champion of Counterspell allowing you to defend your allies both from mundane damage with your ward and from spells with abjuration options like Counterspell and Dispel Magic. School of Abjuration is an easy option for players new to the game or players who might be intimidated by managing Wizard’s spellcasting. Because School of Abjuration’s features are primarily reactive in nature it allows the player to focus on using their spells offensively while falling back on their subclass features to defend themselves. However experienced players who are comfortable managing complex characters may find that the reactionary nature of the subclass frustrating because you may go long periods without your features being impactful unless you’re facing an abundance of spellcasters

[terriblecommanderdeck]

Deck Update

I've been keeping track of the deck in scryfall because that's actually designed for deck building unlike y'know, tumblr.

Assuming Silas Renn is the commander, there are 198 cards in Blue/Black color identity, including 93 lands. Which means technically I'm overdue for my first draft. As a cop out, please enjoy the current list of playable cards (below the cut)

1 Wasteland Strangler 1 Skittering Cicada 1 Pilgrim's Eye 1 Entirely Normal Armchair 1 Nevinyrral's Disk 1 Darksteel Ingot 1 Blinkmoth Urn 1 Scuttling Butler 1 Wall of Spears 1 Explorer's Scope 1 Phyrexian Arena 1 Ring of Thune 1 Soul-Guide Lantern 1 Icy Manipulator 1 Nihil Spellbomb 1 Urza's Miter 1 Dark Confidant 1 Tek 1 Runed Servitor 1 Windfall 1 Trailblazer's Torch 1 Brainstorm 1 Blade of the Oni 1 Captain N'ghathrod 1 Macabre Reconstruction 1 Inspired Sprite 1 Triton Wavebreaker 1 Ichor Shade 1 Sky Weaver 1 Szat's Will 1 Font of Fortunes 1 Rise of the Dark Realms 1 Vicious Hunger 1 Twiddle 1 Collective Brutality 1 Mutual Destruction 1 Karumonix, the Rat King 1 Somber Hoverguard 1 Looming Shade 1 Wave of Rats 1 Painful Lesson 1 Zulaport Duelist 1 Ever-Watching Threshold 1 Siege Zombie 1 Bloodlord of Vaasgoth 1 Murderous Compulsion 1 Feast of the Unicorn 1 Claustrophobia 1 Dark Ritual 1 Ichor Drinker 1 Unearth 1 Horses of the Bruinen 1 Waterspout Elemental 1 Lim-Dûl's High Guard 1 Josu Vess, Lich Knight 1 Graveshifter 1 Tricks of the Trade 1 Aetherspouts 1 Meteor Golem 1 Vow of Flight 1 Pursued Whale 1 Fleeting Distraction 1 Keepsake Gorgon 1 Volo, Itinerant Scholar 1 Decree of Pain 1 Black Vise 1 Carnival of Souls 1 Mindslaver 1 Hydroblast 1 Soulcoil Viper 1 Thieving Magpie 1 Murderous Rider 1 Night of Souls' Betrayal 1 Vampire Nighthawk 1 Jet Medallion 1 Sword Coast Serpent 1 Rhonas's Monument 1 Rotating Fireplace 1 Commander's Sphere 1 Eldrazi Conscription 1 Chill 1 Sarevok, Deathbringer 1 Coalition Relic 1 Elite Arcanist 1 Urza's Bauble 1 Howling Mine 1 Anoint with Affliction 1 Sword of the Meek 1 Disrupting Scepter 1 Perplexing Test 1 Scytheclaw 1 Grand Architect 1 New Perspectives 1 Lightning Greaves 1 Sphinx of Magosi 1 Pestilence 1 Diluvian Primordial 1 Dire Mimic 1 Bloodcrazed Socialite 1 Counterspell 1 Backfire 1 Lobe Lobber 1 Emry, Lurker of the Loch 1 Zombify 1 Arcane Proxy 1 Sequestered Stash 1 Evolving Wilds 1 Bloodstained Mire 10 Swamp 10 Island 10 Swamp 1 Salt Marsh 1 Riptide Laboratory 1 Cavern of Souls 10 Island 10 Swamp 10 Swamp 10 Island 1 Underground Sea 1 Flooded Strand 1 Tectonic Edge 1 Darksteel Citadel 10 Swamp 1 Ghost Town 1 Nephalia Drownyard 1 Island

// Commander 1 Silas Renn, Seeker Adept

// Outside the Game 1 Roller Coaster

[lesbianralzarek]

its possible that your deck(s) were designed to do (or you were taught to do as part of this tutorial so as to not overwhelm you) what mtg players refer to as "playing solitaire", which is when you play cards at one another without caring about whatever is going on on your opponent's side of the battlefield. "solitaire" is a derogatory term due to how wildly unfun it is in nearly everyones opinion to both play against solitaire strategies and to pilot them. the fun part is interacting with your opponent and trying to 1) disrupt them and 2) outmaneuver their disruptions

as an extremely general example: control decks (esp ones with few low-curve creatures) struggle to weather the storm of low-to-the-ground aggro decks in the early game, but if they do manage to stabilize the boardstate after turn 4, they usually win. while aggro decks tend to prey on control, control tends to be combo decks worst nightmares, as a few well-timed counterspells and kill spells will completely dismantle fragile engines. there are a total of 5 major archetypes and hundreds of regular archetypes and thousands of specific strategies within an ever-growing list of formats, so im just gonna stop myself there

as a more specific example of a very common type of situation: imagine its turn 4 and youre playing a monogreen stompy deck in standard. your opponent has 5 cards in hand, and has put down their land per turn every turn, giving them 4 total mana in the colors of white and blue. they have two small creatures on board and have played a single removal spell against you. next turn, you technically have lethal even if they chump block your two biggest creatures, but if they remove even one of them or play another creature, youll be a bit short. you have an additional creature in hand that, if put on the board, will threaten lethal damage next turn even if they have a removal spell for your biggest creature. should you play it? well, it depends on the deck youre up against. you can likely come back from a single removal spell putting you back one turn, but a boardwipe would wreck your whole shop. is that why they havent put many creatures in board, or does their deck just not play many creatures? are you familiar with what cards are often played (and in what quantity) in the kind of deck youre pretty sure your opponent is piloting? if your opponent took a mulligan and has drawn 2 additional cards (other than one per draw step), that means theyve seen 1/3rd of their entire deck at this point, and if theyre playing 4 copies of sunfall, theres a solid chance that they have at least one of those in hand. can you afford to run the last creature you have in hand (but not in your whole deck, theres always the possibility that youll draw more) out into a boardwipe? but with the odds against you increasing the longer you wait out against a control deck, can you afford to not take that chance? what cards do you think, based off of your knowledge of the cards in the format and the way your opponent is behaving, they have in hand? this isnt even accounting for the possibility that they have a counterspell or some flash creature (or both) being held up right now, or that they might draw more removal or a boardwipe next turn even if they dont have it right in hand right now. additionally, might they be bluffing and actually have nothing in hand? if you pass turn without dropping anything, will they know that youre bluffing? does that change anything with the specific strategy your deck is going for?

thats the fun part imo

our boxing class was cancelled for the holidays so my friend taught me how to play magic the gathering instead

i kind of hate it?

it felt like it was just playing itself once the deck was built. do the things you can do, end your turn, rinse, repeat. it has the illusion of complexity with the long-ish skill descriptions and different effects, but at the end of the day that's just homework to learn the rules, then it plays itself.

would love to hear from people more experienced to tell me why i'm wrong

[niuttuc]

New “budget” Commander cards: Lord of the Rings: White

You know these by now, we'll go color by color, mixing main set and commander set. Reprints can be included if they brought the price down under our bar. All the cards presented here are under $2 at time of writing. Cards will be evaluated as part of the 99, even legendary creatures.

We start with a 6-drop, but one that's quite good, introducing the monarchy and protecting it all at once with a tax. With how many cards commander players like to draw, I would be surprised if that tax was often under four mana, and that's a lot of mana to attack you. And if you lose the monarchy anyway, then players are still incentivized to not attack you because they want the monarchy. A solid card, though the high mana cost will limit the decks that can afford to run it.

Squeezing by right under the $2 price at time of writing, Boromir is just a solid card all around. Saccing to give your board indestructible is fantastic for three mana (the golden rate for this is Selfless Spirit at 2, but we don't have other options that cheap and in one color). The body is already very solidly on rate as a 3/3 vigilance. And you get extra upside with the hatebear text that'll mostly stop cascade and any free counterspell shenanigans, and only affects opponents. Unlike indestructible spells, it is a creature, easy to bring back to the board and providing presence and defense there.

The only downside of this card is probably the ring tempting you meaning you need to keep track of it in your otherwise unrelated commander deck. But that does ALSO enable an infinite combo with Boromir and Ratadrabik of Urborg to sac infinite Boromirs, have your board permanently indestructible and also trigger any etb or death triggers infinitely. So, be aware of that I guess?

Do you gain life? Does your commander have 3+ power and lifelink? Here you go, card draw. Not even limited to your end step, so if you can eat food or otherwise gain life around the table, you'll be drawing plenty of cards.

Listen, Remand isn't the best counterspell in commander, far from it. But this is by far the best way for White to interact with the stack, and that's an ability that's incredibly rare and powerful outside of blue. So many games end with a Torment of Hailfire, Insurrection, Cyclonic Rift or similar spell that can only really be answered by a counterspell, and Reprieve will at the least greatly reduce the damage, and at its best give the table a turn to deal with the offending player.

Rosie is a solid token card, but let's not kid ourselves, if she's here, it's that she's now the simplest and cheapest option to go infinite with Scurry Oak (and Herd Baloth) in Selesnya colors, and offers further redundancy for those combos. If you're already running those, grab yourself a Rosie and make your decks more consistent.

I'm not only putting Sam here because he's next to Rosie, but he's in general a pretty useful card. Flash is incredible to keep him versatile and he can bring any permanent back from a creature that died to a board wipe to a fetchland you just cracked to, if you're feeling nasty, a Mindslaver. He's cheap so it's easy to keep the two mana, and since that effect is on a creature ETB (and a 2-drop at that), it is very easy to use it multiple times via blinking, reanimation, or more. Same as Boromir, the Ring temptation might actually be more of an annoyance than the small upside it provides, but technically it is an upside.

Damn, Roon got so outclassed. While she only targets your own creatures, being able to pick between returning the creature now or at end of turn is HUGE, even without the extra abilities she provides (and lifelink+vigilance is very relevant to stay alive). Being able to return immediately means you get to immediately trigger etbs even in the middle of combat, untap a blocker, or just dodge a targeted removal if you want. Being able to return at end of turn means you can use it to dodge literally every board wipe in the game, from Blasphemous Act to Farewell. Being able to CHOOSE which you want is incredibly powerful. Needing to keep up 2 mana for a blink might seem like a lot, but that kind of flexibility isn't something we see often.

Despite my love of Sagas, I will say, this card is not as strong as it looks at first reading. Or rather, it is, but that's an issue. A four-mana tutor isn't particularly efficient. Two tutors is a bit more interesting, it makes this card advantage and great card selection. And that last chapter is quite the finisher.

But it's a scary finisher the entire table can see two turn cycles in advance, so in reality it probably just forces a board wipe right before the last chapter, or to kill you.

With that said, if you have enough legendary creatures this offers flexibility, I would consider this. Sometimes they won't have it, and hey, they need to cast that board wipe at some point anyway, right? Might as well get it out of the way and have two legends to start rebuilding.

This common is the most efficient we've ever seen a disenchant on a body, among plenty of options in white and green. The free activation makes it particularly interesting when bringing this back regularly. With that said, it is very much balanced by the timing restriction on the ability, forcing you to think ahead about what will be the problem and not allowing you to stop combos or effects deployed until you get back to your turn.

For some decks, it'll be worth the mana saved, and more options is always more better. With that said, I think most decks will stick with Cathar Commando, and if they have access to green, Cankerbloom, Haywire Mite and Outland Liberator. The new options we're getting for that slot are very good, and this isn't any different.

Closing things off with a reprint, this is the first time Weathered Wayfarer has been reprinted in a widely distributed product that's not at a very inflated price in over 15 years, and such it has fallen in price to a low not seen in a long long while, under $1. This card's ability to tutor nonbasics on a 1-drop makes him quite powerful, from providing Ramp with a Nykthos, enabling white catchup ramp (and himself!) by grabbing bouncelands and Lotus Field, doing cheeky land stuff like Dark Depths+Thespian's Stage, getting cards in hand to loot away, or just simply never missing a land drop. It was a $10 card for years and years for a reason, and the two latest reprint brought him down to a very budget-friendly 70 cents at time of writing. Grab one, you won't be disappointed!

[coreyww]

The Owl House Except Everyone Plays Magic the Gathering AU

[Part One: More to come but this post was getting long with just what I have SO FAR]

Luz early-Season One:

Playstyle: “Five Color Good Stuff” / Lots of Janky Bullshit

Takes lands out of her deck to make room for better cards which she cannot play because her mana base ends up being just two tap lands and a Snow Mountain.

“Okay so how does the Stack work again? Okay got it” Doesn’t get it at all.

Says “HAHAHA you’ve activated my Trap Card” whenever she plays anything 100% of the time.

Eda

Playstyle: Spellslinger / Storm / "Chaos, if you're feeling nasty"

Runs the game shop

Unclear if she actually owns the building or has just squatted there for God Knows How Long 

Tries to pretend she doesn’t know or care much about playing MtG, is actually a gigantic nerd about it

“Still can’t believe they banned ante just because that’s technically and factually illegal. Pffft. Cowards”

Keeps trying to teach the actual children how to cheat at actual gambling but she’s mostly kidding (…probably)

“Awww it does my heart good to see you kids have a good time hehe…now buy a collectors booster or get out, I’ve got bills to pay, kid”

Willow

Playstyle: Tap Forest Followed by Curbstomp

Every deck has Green in it. All of them. If she ever had to play a deck with a land base of only Wastes, she’d somehow find a way to make it generate Green mana.

Her spirit animals are Rampant Growth, Giant Growth, and Llanowar Elves.

Doesn’t look like much at first until does some infinite mana bullshit, does a ridiculous amount of damage, and obliterates an opponent and all the hopes and dreams they ever had without mercy.

“It just makes sproutling tokens, what are you even worried about?” is the sound you hear before you die

Make a shitty comment about her friends during her game and she’ll Trample and Double Strike you in Real Life

Amity early-Season One

Playstyle: Blue Mana / Artifact Shenanigans / All Manner of Control Fuckery

A total Spike

Is rich and thus plays Modern

Good at the game but in an assholy kinda way.

Decks are loaded with $50+ cards.

Memorizes every spoiler card before Prerelease. Not an exaggeration, literally takes the time to actually memorize them.

“Wow, that’s a good spell ... how sad for you” (Casts Counterspell)

Gets cocky and toys with Luz during their first game until Luz gets the win and Amity has a mental breakdown in a very noticeable embarrassing way in the middle of the game store.

Gus

Playstyle: Flicker, Bounce, and Enter the Battlefield Triggers for Days

Doesn’t always win, but he has fun just watching something cool go off

Doesn’t have a lot of self confidence so their turns often take like over five minutes

Very excited about showing you the new sleeves and deck box he bought

“LUZ! YOU DID GREAT! I went 0-3 myself but who cares about that, look! I got a deckbox with Yargle on it! I don’t have a frog deck to put in it now, but when I do, watch out” (finger guns)

Belos

Playstyle: Thousand Dollar Decks Loaded with Nothing But Bullshit

(Posting on Reddit) “And that’s why proxies and casual play are ruining Magic the Gathering and new product shouldn’t be sent to stores that allow either. Furthermore, women—“

Motherfucker has the Power Nine in a Legacy deck and uses that shit against CHILDREN

He’ll use Mass Land Destruction, he don’t give a fuck

ALL the free Sac outlets, can’t get enough of that shit

“Surely you’re not afraid of a friendly casual game?” (Turn One: Black Lotus into Doomsday)

Seriously, fuck this guy

[magic-edh-talk]

What’s up people, I’m back (probably for a limited time)

I’ve recently reconciled my differences with tumblr, and after a long hiatus have been playing some Magic, and because I tend to obsess over things, I need to get my urge to buy cards out by building lots of fake decks.

So I’ve decided to give you a deck that takes terrible cards and turns them into sufferable cards. And by sufferable, I mean insufferable. For your opponent.

Welcome Obeka

Wizards of the Coast doesn’t realize how good being able to end the turn is, so they’ll put it on anything. Unfortunately because Sundial of the Infinite isn’t *technically* a legendary creature (it *can* get there, with some help) I haven’t been able to run a completely jank commander deck where I end my own turn over and over again.

Now you, my dear reader, may be thinking “why would you *intentionally* end your own turn prematurely?”

This is where it gets fun.

Luckily, this time WotC printed sundial as a legendary creature IN THREE COLORS. Colors which can do dirty terrible things (for a price). The purpose of ending the turn? To remove the (at a price) from that statement.

Take Eater of Days for example. Now, with modern power creep (and it has gotten out of hand since I’ve stopped playing, so forgive me if this cards is completely too mana intense these days) (anyways) Now, 4 colorless mana for a 9/8 is pretty okay. You get it out turn 4 or 5, it’s bigger than anything you will see for at least a few turns (or you’re playing against elves in which case, I’m sorry) and you can swing it around like a big stick with flying and trample until your opponents Doom Blade it or whatever removal you kids run these days. Probably you will do at least 15 damage with it though. But wait, you have to skip your next turn? and then your next turn again? Complete garbage. So bad you can scoop this card for about a dollar.

But what if instead, when it entered the battlefield, your turn suddenly and unstoppably ended, giving the stack the middle finger? Suddenly it’s turn 4, you have a 9/8 flying/trample out and you aren’t even playing green.

Have a problem? This deck says, if that problem happens on your turn it doesn’t happen at all.

Losing the game at end of turn because you had to cast Pact (pick one)? not anymore.

You have to sacrifice *whatever* it is at the end of your turn? nope.

you want to pull off a disgusting combo with Conjurer’s Closet and Wormfang Manta (you’re welcome for that idea) but you need a way to stop it from skipping a turn in the first place? Just end the turn.

Now, this is a risky deck, because you lose hard to removal, and while there is a single counterspell indicated, I recommend you run a lot because a path to exile will ruin your day before you can say “Black Lotus isn’t that good anymore anyways” or whatever the kids are saying these days. 1 white mana will turn your easy 9/8 leviathan into your worst enemy, so keep a few tricks up your sleeve. Hell, you can even run pact of negation and skip paying the mana when you just end the turn instead (If you’re really desperate).

Just remember to flex by ending your turn before you draw to really style on your opponent.

Have Fun kids.

https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/29-12-21-obeka-brute-chronologist/?cb=1640760925

[nochiquinn]

mighty nein vs vox machina battle royale: for fuck’s sake

oh this is one I'm not gonna be able to look at the screen for

don't join them in the chat

apocalyptic fun buns

all the art is v v good

ready for taliesin to forget which accent goes where

I enjoy the "made possible by viewers like you" in the corner

mala: we paid 3 million dollars for these outfits

veth from somewhere in the distance: "I'mma fuck it"

taliesin hot potato

if they both touch it at the same time there's a 0.00028% chance of getting caduceus instead

thunderorgy

matt trying to rein in the collective horny energy of this group

(good luck)

BIGSBY'S HAAAAAAND

the magic of video editing

"the boots of haste LAURA BAILEY"

oh this is the level 20 battle royale again

Ride the Hand

does fjord have the ring of fire resistance

jester's been learning from caleb

PERCIVAL

ahh I missed percy's voice

"vex isn't here, he's all mine" liam

mala: Liam still going for the orgy end

"does waterbreathing work in lava"

MY BOY

laura: "did you mean hot? I think you meant hot."

FIRST BLOOD

"just for fun" he's dead

NO MERCY PERCY

I heard "I'm going to use a bonus accent" and yes you probably are sir

fgjlskdf literally moving him across screens

dramatic fucker

liam you ONLY made that comparison to fuck with travis

"RUDE"

liam can you even see the dice through that thing on your face

rogues are whatever

this music is Good

"I cast thunderstep" "oh! I cast counterspell"

liam and marisha clapping in unison

he's stuck in percy's accent lmao

I missed literally everything molly did, cool, thanks child

ugh I'm completely lost now

rip fjord

"don't go over there, it sucks over there"

"is that technically a teleport" "yes" "AHAHAHAHAHA"

"let's have some fun" he's dead

SDLKFJSLDK

oh good maybe I can get back on track after the break

guiding beau up the butt

I can't believe marisha killed liam in the parking lot

liam can't use his tablet with his apocalypse glove on

lmao taliesin putting the glasses back on

"what's back up? oh, your bullshit?"

"I'm trying to limit the number of dumb fucking things I do in this game" for the first time ever

taliesin: [laughs menacingly]

DINOSJAUR

"you sound like me when I was in the second grade" aw, matt

the giant mug with the equally giant crazy straw is killing me

they wouldn't let sam drink from the flask again but the mug IS labeled "biohazard" so it's pretty much the same

no wait I got the flask and the stein confused, is that THE stein? bc in that case the biohazard tape is required by law

"the winged man in dark clothing"

tal that laugh was horrifying

FIRST BLOOD

"my butt was exposed just a little bit, just in case”

"oh you're one of those rich boys!" "oh yes."

oh good, I wasn't the only one getting ben franklin vibes

"the gayest ben franklin" "so just ben franklin"

"this is the best view I've had all pandemic" liam

percy's starting to take this personal

percy: you CATCH miette's bullets??? you NEGATE miette's damage????

marisha: why are you helping him???

oh right, she Hurt Scanlan in front of Vax

"you're throwing it? you fool. you absolute imbicile."

"you're the person in the back with a sniper rifle" ah. me.

"I'm pulling out Bad News - " "And loading a health potion into it and shooting it into my leg?"

samuel

FIRST BLOOD

SECOND BLOOD

ah, travis learned from sam. horrifying.

scanlan is an among us ghost

"I'll catch you!"

I enjoy the mental image of travis holding the back of laura's shirt to stop her fucking up a little league ref

protecc

he protecc, he attacc, but most important, he have pike as snacc

vax disappears into the void

"I want to be buried in this"

laura bailey is the most dangerous member of the mighty nein

"how did you MISS he was THREE FEET IN FRONT OF YOU"

sarenrae slapping pike's hand away from the hot radiant damage stove

"are you arguing with a ghost" that's percy's whole personal arc

Feathered Fuck

Campaign Three No Monks 2021

(Campaign Three All Monks 2021)

mala: once again Marisha is op its not the class, its her

travis said very near the beginning "we should animate this" and I love that that's his reaction to every cool moment now bc it is also mine

marisha: where'd you hide it, vax? liam: up my dick sam: joke's on you, he's got three dicks liam: dagger dagger dagger~

someone also said "action action bonus action" and I THINK it was liam but that took too long to type and I forgot

ashley going after that die only for it to betray her

also what I assume among us ghosts are doing

sdkljflsk vax just staring at them in horror

at level fuck it

"sorry liam this is your table" "that's okay, I'll just take a shit under yours"

I forgot how pissy liam gets when vax isn't doing well

like specifically as vax, he gets like me when the internet is slow

scanlan flipping sides

"this is twice marisha has killed me in battle royale"

"with vax going down" huehuehue

I enjoy that they're just confirming polymachina all over the place

he really did hide it up his dick

tbh I kinda figured it was gonna go this way. tm9 is fresh in their minds.

"you're such an asshole!" "I'm dead!"

vax just putting the gem on the ground and hoping it looks like all the other rocks

"you ASSHOLE you shot me SO MANY TIMES"

"I am alarmed that he is standing so well"

WAIT

PART TWO??

PART TWO WHEN